Guyana launches search for pilot after Cessna plane crash near Brazilian border

GEORGETOWN, Guyana — Special forces were searching dense jungle in a mountainous area of Guyana on Saturday for the pilot of a single-engine plane that crashed near the border with Brazil a day earlier.

The 13-seater Cessna Caravan was declared missing after it failed to land as expected at the gold mining district of Imbaimadai, in southwestern Guyana.

The local civil aviation authority said the pilot was the only person onboard the aircraft, which encountered heavy rain before crashing into a mountainside.

Troops who reached the remote crash area had to climb down into the jungle and cut their way through 100-foot (30-meter) trees to try to locate the pilot, the military said in a statement.

“(The plane) failed to report arrival, prompting a flight progress check,” the statement said, noting that the wreckage was located by other aircraft flying in the area Friday.

The plane is one of dozens serving the South American nation’s vast interior as well as conducting flights to neighboring Brazil, Suriname and the Caribbean.